


Unsightly

by roseverdict



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Gore, and it's time for, anyway uhhh, extensive depiction of a dead body, it's time for, like this guy shows up for the express purpose of being a jerk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:47:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24442324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseverdict/pseuds/roseverdict
Summary: Less than a year after Snatcher sets aside his life's aspirations for good, he has to re-enter the manor to find one of his subjects. While there, he sees something that should have remained a distant memory.(aka the one where rosie decides to step out of her comfort zone and write some pure, unfiltered angst and gore)
Relationships: Snatcher & Snatcher's Minions (A Hat in Time)
Kudos: 43





	Unsightly

**Author's Note:**

> just gonna say, the opening dialogue and final line were things meep from the afit discord (aka caligulasaquarium5 here on ao3) wrote, i just uh. i went nuts on the implications.

_"Alright kiddo, for this next contract you're gonna have to go into that old creepy manor across the chasm! It'll be fun!"_

_"Hm? Why don't I go there myself? ...Alright, I'll give you an honest answer, kiddo."_

_"I went there...once."_

* * *

Once upon a time, there lived a fairytale princess and her Prince Charming.

They were beloved by all those who they hoped to lead one day, and together they painted a picture of a couple _hopelessly_ in love.

But not all fairytales have happy endings. In this legend, the princess ascended to the throne following her mother's premature death, and her prince ceased his studies to return home.

No one knows exactly what happened next, save perhaps the spirits of those who were there, but the forest kingdom quickly froze over, only thawing out when a powerful, soul-snatching spirit took a stand against the corrupted queen.

…then again, this is all old hat now, isn't it?

* * *

It had been months since he set aside his crown and his name for good.

Even so, the newly-christened 'Snatcher' still found himself glancing longingly across the forest, in the direction he _knew_ Vanessa's manor lay.

He shook his head and turned back to the task at hand. "So, what seems to be the problem?"

"These ghosts of yours continue to infringe upon my property!" The man before him said. "I understand that the world beyond that of mortals is hard for me and my ilk to fathom, and as such they may not realize they're doing it, but they keep spooking the missus! She's already so far along, it would tear us up inside if she lost this one now!"

Snatcher hmm-ed and haw-ed appropriately for a few moments, then turned to the spirits of his subjects. "And what is _your_ side of this?"

Still unable to speak in their new forms, his subjects 'spoke' through emotions instead.

_exploring places we hadn't had the chance to before_

_sudden noise_

_look?_

_RUN_

_living soul?_

_DON'T GET DISTRACTED, HE'S COMING AFTER US_

_WHY?_

_DON'T KNOW_

_"GET OUTTA HERE, YOU UNHOLY ABOMINATIONS!"_

Snatcher tried to remain calm. "…I see."

"They didn't even say anything…?" The man (liar LIAR) blinked in confusion.

Oh boy. Time to up the theatrics.

"Oh, but they didn't have to." Snatcher's voice was low, far lower than it ever had before his…'metamorphosis.' "It's written _all over your face._ "

"Wh- _what_ is?" The man stuttered, _finally_ seeming to realize the precariousness of his position.

"Your lies." Snatcher answered simply. Spreading his arms as if in a gesture of goodwill, but _knowing_ his large size would twist it into something terrifying, he went on, "My subjects were never _near_ your property, _were they?_ No, you **trespassed** into _MY_ forest in search of spirits to hunt down and use for your own selfish gain, be it for magical ingredients or clout."

"I-I!"

Snatcher leaned in close, glaring into the man's eyes with the most menacing expression he could muster. **"Get out of my forest and never come back, or I'll make you _wish_ I'd killed you here and now."**

Without giving him a chance to react, Snatcher twirled his fingers and warped reality around the man, sending him back to the outside edge of the forest.

…as well as the complete opposite side from where he'd first entered.

Now without a reason to keep up pretenses, Snatcher turned to his subjects and looked them over in concern. "Did he manage to hit any of you?"

_only one_

And yet none of those before him seemed injured.

…Snatcher didn't like where this was heading.

"Well, where'd they go? Do I need to make them a new body, or-?"

_HER her hER HeR HER MANOR HER MANOR ICE ICE DEATH_

Oh, yes, Snatcher _definitely_ didn't like where this was going.

He swallowed down a lump in a throat he no longer had. "Did…did any of you see if she got to them?"

_no, didn't have the chance_

_might have got away_

_didn't hear screaming_

Snatcher nodded, more to prepare himself for what he was about to say than anything else. "Alright, then…then I believe I'll go try and find them."

_ARE YOU SURE CAN YOU DO IT WILL YOU BE ALRIGHT WILL YOU BE OKAY_

"Whoa, _hey,_ calm down, everyone, calm down!" Snatcher held up his hands in a vain attempt to get them to listen. "I might not even have to go in! And even if I _do,_ I'm not the same pushover who got himself killed! I got her to stay inside, didn't I?"

_perhaps but we still worry!_

"I'll be fine! Really! I'll just get in, get your friend, and get out!"

* * *

It wasn't until he got _There_ that he realized those were famous last words.

He combed the surrounding area to the best of his ability, tearing open the wound and shoving all those emotions back down in favor of his search.

He could mourn some more later. (He had the time, after all.)

Eventually, he had to admit it to himself.

_He had to get closer._

Staving off the soul-wracking chills that nearly overwhelmed him at the thought of getting closer to his killer, he shrunk down and cloaked his presence as much as he was able. Disguised as one of his subjects, he crept past the remains of the village and onto the grounds of the manor, shivering from more than just the cold.

He hated seeing it like this. Silent save for the whistling of the wind, no movement in the yard or any of the windows…if he'd still had a proper stomach, it would've turned.

He'd somewhat expected the unnatural stillness, however, which made it _that_ much more jarring when one of the statues began to _move._

It was all he could do to keep from screaming as the statue jolted into motion and charged right for him, but he jumped aside and summoned as big a blast as he could. At roughly two feet wide, it was just big enough to blow the statue's head clean off.

But it didn't even flinch.

Now even _more_ terrified, Snatcher scrambled away, sprinting around the manor in an attempt to lose his pursuer, but every time he glanced back, _it was closer._

As he came to the back of the manor, he glanced around in a frantic bid to find an escape-

-and in a split-second decision he was sure to regret, he dove into the cellar and shut the doors, _praying_ the statue hadn't seen or couldn't follow.

If he'd still had lungs, he'd have been breathing heavily, possibly loud enough to give him away, but as it was, he watched the headless statue through a crack in the wood. It slowed down, and seemingly looked around to try and find him, but after a long, unending moment, it _finally_ turned around and left his field of vision.

Snatcher felt the tension in his form drain away. With the statue taken care of, he just had to find his subject before Vanessa did.

He turned away from the door and felt _several_ emotions slam into him at once.

One was relief: the missing spirit was in the cellar, injured but unfrozen.

Another was curiousity: the spirit was looking at something in the shadows before he'd drawn their attention away.

The third was rage: whatever the spirit had been staring at had put them in a sorrowful mood, and Snatcher was of half a mind to burn the manor down just for that.

The rest…well, the rest were too close together to really identify any of them, and _they_ only came to be once Snatcher caught sight of the corpse chained to the wall.

 _His_ corpse.

He'd known he wasn't exactly in the best of shape near the end of his imprisonment, but _this?_

What skin was left had turned a sickly blue, fading to blackened flakes along the edges where some of it had fallen off or worn away. Muscles and sinews had long gone slack, and in some places it was hard to tell where flesh ended and bone began. His legs had been sloppily severed, likely by some unlucky rats who'd been caught inside the manor when Vanessa froze everything, unable to escape for better sources of food.

His clothes were ripped and torn, clinging wetly to his _very_ visible ribcage and every other surface they could. His fingers had turned a frostbitten bluish-black, with popped blood vessels visible beneath the skin where they connected to his hands. His hair had gone slick and greasy, and what little hadn't fallen from his head dangled in matted strands onto his face.

And his face…

Snatcher was now _extremely_ glad he no longer had a stomach, because he probably would've vomited at the ghastly sight.

His skull's blank grin seemed to taunt him, a cockroach skittering from between two teeth and into one of the holes where his nose once sat. One ear was completely gone, and the other dangled from what had once been the earlobe. The eyeballs had rolled up halfway into their sockets, and even in the dim light of his falsified face, their pupils glimmered like clouded chunks of quartz.

_He needed to get out of there._

He wrenched his gaze away from _it_ and back to his subject. "C-c'mon, let's get out of here."

The spirit nodded swiftly, running up and hugging him tight.

_support love let's put this in the past i won't talk about it if you don't_

"Heh…" Snatcher's smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "…thanks, squirt."

Reality warped, and then the two were gone.

* * *

_"...I didn't like what I saw."_

**Author's Note:**

> and uh yeah. resident cinnamon roll has written the Spook in all its gory glory! :D


End file.
